The Indian Pacific | Luxury coast to coast rail journey
are you ready for a once- in a-lifetime Railway journey across Australia join me as our train traverses the longest straight stretch of Railway in the world take a look inside single and twin sleeper cabins enjoy Sumptuous three coarse meals and an extensive wine list watch sunrise over the desert and discover the tours included as part of the trip we'll explore the board lounges encounter a broken track in Adelaide that will delay our journey and have a chat with the train manager so hop aboard for an epic transcontinental Journey this is the Indian Pacific here I am at one of the world's most famous beaches Bondi on the Pacific Ocean and today we're going to be taking an Epic Journey Across Australia all the way to the Indian Ocean it's a 4-day 3ight all-inclusive Journey on the Indian Pacific come along and find out why it's considered one of the world's great Railway Journeys the Indian Pacific starts its westbound Journey from Australia's largest and busiest railway station Central the main station building dates from 1906 the Sandstone structure is the third building to serve as Sydney terminal about 250,000 passengers pass through Central Station each day with numerous Suburban lines running through the station however the station has 12 terminating platforms on its Northwest side this section of the station is known as Sydney terminal and is primarily used by Inter City Regional and Interstate services including the Indian Pacific this part of the station is called the Grand concour let's take a look at today's schedule gold class passengers check in here large bags need to be checked through to your destination because they won't fit in the cabin the staff will also take your cabin bag and pop it in your cabin ready for departure you'll be given a boarding card with your boarding time Carriage number and cabin number the Indian Pacific is far too long for the platforms here at Central so the train will be spread over three platforms it's not here yet the vast majority of passengers travel in Gold Class but there's also a more premium class Platinum which has its own check-in area once you checked in you can visit this Cafe which is reserved exclusively for Indian Pacific passengers light refreshments and drinks are available all are complimentary there's also a range of hot snacks salads wraps and sandwiches there's also entertainment the inbound service from Adelaide is running late I believe because of a passenger with a medical issue time to take a look at the route the first part of the journey to Adelaide is scheduled to take about 25 hours after an offra experience in Adelaide including dinner we'll head across the Great expanse of the nullabor reaching the West Australian Capital Perth just under 2 days later in good news our train has arrived well some of it the carriages have to be shunted across the three platforms today's train has 33 carriages and is about 830 M long the longest platform here at Central platform 1 is 372 M long on this first part of the journey we'll be hauled by two NR class Locos two Locos are needed to tackle the gradients over the Blue Mountains it'll still be a while before we board because the cabins need to be cleaned and the train reprovisioned here's the second part of the train that will be pushed into platform [Music] 2 this is a baggage van where checked luggage is stored you might be able to tell in it's slly raining today the stainless steel carriages used on the Indian Pacific were built for the Commonwealth Railways initially for use on the trans Australian between Port Perry in South Australia and culi in Western Australia additional carriages of the same type were built for use on the Indian Pacific when it began in 1970 the carriages have been extensively refurbished since then and here's the third and final portion of the train being brought into platform form 3 as you can see it's quite an involved process there are four NR class Locos here to facilitate this the carriages are topped up with water the train is here the India Pacific or the IP as we call it is ready to go we're going to board you as I said by platform and lucky first platform is platform number two my section is second to board Platform One if you have Platform One on your lard you walk out the door you're heading towards Platform One the crew check off passengers as they board hi hello there are 16 cabins in this Gold Class single Carriage I'm in Cabin 3 the crew have already placed my cabin bag here hello and welcome aboard the Indian Pacific in my single cabin if you've seen my Great Southern Video it's the same cabin but if you haven't let's take a quick look around so obviously I've got a seat here here it's very comfortable and this converts into a bed at night which is something the staff will do while you're having dinner or whatever time you'd like we got a little table obviously folds out the way when the bed is made you also get some reading materials including the list of Tours that you can take uh the options are in broken Hill and Adelaide the other ones are more standard I guess um you also get this which lists your times for dining so you have set times for dinner um breakfast is flexible set time for lunch and so on bottle of water came uh in the room not branded unlike uh previous trains I've been on with them uh we've got obviously a nice window here uh we can lower the blinds here we' got cupboard um you got some racks so you can hang your jacket and whatnot up here get it out the way there's a Corbell here if you need the staff for any reason uh we've got lights an overhead light and I think a night light PowerPoint there's also a little drawer here so you could stick your phone there etc for charging and a little cupboard down here uh where you can stick some other stuff just to get it out the way there is a little bit of space under this uh I guess bench seat SL foot rest um so yeah you can stick a cabin size bag or maybe a little bit bigger under there so it's out the way and hello this is not the bathroom but it comes with a little uh Basin so so you can freshen up wash your hands um and we've got these toilet trees they're the standard ones you get on all these trains obviously Basin water hand town so on there's two toilets in this Carriage um there's no on Suite in the single cabins got a mirror uh also there's a bit of an area up here where you can store stuff I've stuck my bag up there and there's a a pillow and so on I think they play sometimes music on these channels um and channel one's normally full commentary um and you can change the volume so I think that's everything uh welcome aboard and uh let's hope it's a fantastic trip our section of the train departs at 300 p.m. but the third and final section of the train is still boarding a crew member comes through to introduce themselves answer any questions about the cabin and to explain the location of the lounge and dining cars as well as other amenities it's interesting to overhear other passengers comments one passenger is disappointed there's no Wi-Fi in the cabins while another is surprised by the compact size of the cabins they are snug but I find them to be very welld designed and comfortable we've been connected to the section of train on platform 2 which bought it first so we're now underway and passing through Sydney's inner western suburbs let's go check out the lounge car thought we' take a quick look at one of the toilets there's two toilets in this single Carriage whereas the twin births have on sweets so here's the toilet and hand dryer pretty simple in every car an old Gold Class there's one of these little areas where you can get filtered drinking water hot and cold and you can make make your own tea and coffee anytime uh there's milk and they've gone back to paper cups it looks like pretty sure they used to have cup proper porcelain cups here there are three self-contained Gold Class sections on today's train each with their own lounge and dining cars I believe we have to walk through three gold twin carriages to get to the lounge and then after the lounge is the dining car but that's not open until dinner time which for me is 6:00 p.m. there are nine cabins in each twin gold Carriage accommodating up to 18 passengers so the Train's essentially broken up into sections each with I think up to four sleeping Cars one lounge and one dining car it's different in Platinum so we're now coming up to the lounge car which I believe is very busy very popular place to go now weapon away this is where you'll meet some of your fellow Travelers and can indulge in a cheeky beverage or a barista made coffee there's lots of people heading home as we approach the afternoon Peak we come to a stop in Clyde yard where the third and final section of the train that was on platform 3 is connected to the front of of our train it's done here to avoid clogging up Central Station yard with shunting movements so now we have one long contest ready for the trip West my name is Cameron I'm your journey manager here on board and again on behalf of the rest of our it gives me a great pleasure indeed to welcome you on board today's Journey we have to wait for a train path onto the busy Sydney Network here's a closer look at our route to Adelaide the onboard temperature is set to 22° [Music] C there's a recorded announcement about the Train's history St the first world war prompted the construction of the East West Railway and it was finally completed in 1917 however a passenger wanting to travel between Sydney and Perth had to be prepared to change trains at least half a dozen times to reach their destination because each section of the track was built with a different gauge or width it wasn't until 1970 that the rail line was standardized the Indian Pacific was the first train to make the full un broken Journey from Australia's East Coast to West on the 23rd of February 1970 the nepan marks the end of Western Sydney and the start of the Blue Mountains these Sandstone cuttings Mark the ascent of the main Western Railway over the Great Dividing Range we'll pass through katumba home to the three sisters after Conquering the Great Dividing Range we'll reach baist in the Central West I think it's time for a pre dinner drink all beverages are included in the fair I like to start with bubbles we follow the Great Western Highway which links Sydney and baast for a closer look at this route check out my video about the xbt to Duo it's dinner time meals are served in the queen Adelaide restaurant the crew will se you with other passengers here's a quick look at the menu we start with these Savory Tarts I choose the chicken as my entree videos the swordfish for Maine many people take take this train to celebrate a special occasion there are three birthdays in the dining car tonight happy Birthday to happy birthday to you I finish with the apple tart we've now traversed the Blue Mountains including the highest point on our entire Journey at 1,092 M just before our descent to Litho litho is the Terminus for electrified trains from Sydney we're now on the central table lands a roving musician performs in the lounge cars his name is easy to remember it's [Music] Adam so just finished dinner and the staff have made my bed I've got some slippers here perfect for when you need to go to the toilet during the night or to shower tomorrow morning you've got a tour ticket here which indicates which uh off Trin experience you're doing and a chocolate perfect so here's what the room looks like with the bed made up it's quite uh intimate but you can still get into the room no issues um there's still space to sort of move around a little bit and um get yourself organized batist is Australia's oldest Inland European settlement the carriages with the long black windows are Platinum Class Cars the railway station here was built in 1876 and is Heritage listed and now it's time for bed seem is pretty comfortable uh so I guess the only thing to say is good night some sections of track west of parks are extremely rough good morning it's very early um but it's been pretty hard to sleep to be honest as you can see my ha's a bit of a p uh it's time for a shower we'll take a closer look at the shower later it always feels much better after a shower and it's nice to have a full sty shower unlik both in the gold twin rooms it's still quiet in the lounge the lounge has Wi-Fi although it uses the tstr mobile network so won't work in remote areas there's a 500 megabyte daily limit a good thing about being up so early is getting to see the sunrise overnight we've traveled to the far west of New South Wales you might notice how Brown the land has become on the satellite image we're not far from the Outback town of broken Hill although broken Hill is in New South Wales it's closer to Adelaide than Sydney so follows Central Standard Time this means our clocks go back 30 minutes a key reason for this is that the railway reached broken Hill from Adelaide in 1888 whereas the line from Sydney to Broken Hill wasn't completed until almost 40 years later in 1927 we get a view of our Locos on this curve here's today's schedule or it would be if we were on time more on that short L our train is scheduled to spend just under 2 hours in broken Hill where we have a choice of one of these five offra experiences I'm going for option one to learn more about the town's history broken Hill is Australia's oldest mining town still in operation the memorial celebrates the life and work of more than 800 miners who lost their lives here but then we receive this news fortunately been unable to make up any of our time overnight and information that we've received from our drivers this morning is that estimated time of arrival into breaking Hill is now 7:30 this morning in light of this new estimated time of arrival and to ensure that the rest of our planned itinery for your journey sees as little impact as possible it's with regret that we've made the very difficult decision to cancel all of our off train experiences this morning decision is certainly not being made lightly and I can assure you ladies and gentlemen my team and I share your disappointment in doing so that should there be no further changes to our estimated time of arrival this morning into Breen hill we will be able to open our doors uh in our your respective Outback Explorer Lounge cars or platinum Club carriages should you wish to get some fresh air and stretch your legs across the platform in broken hill we will ask that you return back on board the Indian Pacific by 8:00 this morning and as such we'll ask you please don't want it too far from the platform you'll hear a train horn sounded by the locomotive drivers to indicate when it is time to reboard Explorer Charles St saw and named the barrier Rangers referring to a broken Hill in his diary ironically the hill that gave the town its name has been mined away broken Hills or deposit formed about 1.7
billion years ago and is proved to be one of the world's largest silver lead and zinc mineral deposits the railway St station is located between the town and old mining sites now 13 minutes 7 here morning and drivers just pulling onto the front portion of the platform here in broken Hill as we have made up a little bit of time over the past 45 minutes or so here's another look at the queen Adelaide restaurant where some passengers are having breakfast oh come on as we're at the back of the train we need to walk through a few carriages to reach the platform this Carriage contains the kitchen this is one of the Platinum Club carriages you can see it has a more modern feel Than Gold Class half the carriage is for dining and the other half is a lounge area as there are a lot fewer passengers in Platinum how are you we passed through a platinum sleeper the cabins here have Windows on both sides the Platinum cars have espresso pod machines in the self-service area another Platinum Lounge we make it outside the crew take note of your cabin number so they can check all passengers who Hop Off hop on again we're now in the outback City of broken Hill also known as the Silver City because of its mining history we're closer to Adelaide than Sydney so although we're still in New South Wales we're on South Australian time you get a sense of just how long our train is here for many decades at least three Changers of train were acquired if traveling from Sydney to Perth in the early days the different states could not agree on a common rail gauge each built up its own rail system independently and so created the break of gauge problem in the west the Northern Territory in Queensland Tasmania and in part of South Australia a 3' 6 in gauge was built in Victoria and in another part of South Australia 5'3 while New South Wales decided on 4' 82 this is also used by the Commonwealth Railways for the trans Australia line and it is the national gauge which will link all Mainland capitals by 1967 until 197 you'd need to change from standard gauge to Narrow Gauge here back onto standard gauge in Port Perry and then change again in caly to a Narrow Gauge train for the final stretch into Perth gauge conversion projects fix this enabling the introduction of the Indian Pacific many passengers grab a pick with local drag queen shelita Buffet get it she would have led a walking tour if we'd arrived earlier earlier some of the scenes from prisilla Queen of the Desert were filmed in broken Hill the railway station dates from 1957 and is Heritage listed broken Hill was served by Australia's first air conditioned train the Silver City Comet introduced in 1937 back on board and it's time for breakfast I've gone for the full breakfast with scrambled eggs you also get a choice of fresh juices and toast my lunch sitting is changed from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. to give priority to people on the brussa Valley wine tour they'll hop off the train earlier than the rest of us although the Indian Pacific makes the trip across Australia once a week freight trains cly this route far more frequently this freight train from Perth is on route to Sydney now that it's daytime I thought we might as well have a proper look at the shower facilities so at this end of the carriage there are two showers it's a fullsize bathroom so there's a lot more space than if you have a twin cabin with an on Suite uh so you can see there's a basin here with soap and a mirror and then in here you'll find the shower as you can see it's a full size shower I having used it the shower has full decent pressure um it's really [Music] good there is a cool button in here uh if anyone get stuck shower rooms also feature a toilet you get provided a floor mat put down here and there's a hand dry just like in the toilets well that's breakfast out the way and I'm back in my cabin which is back in day mode as a seat we've crossed the border into South Australia heading towards Peter bar which is in South Australia's midn North 5 minutes now from passing through the township of pedar which was once a thriving rail Town pedar operated a Heritage steam railway from pedar 2 a con between 1977 and 2002 which was run by the nonpr at Steamtown Pinar Railway preservation Society this was a narug rep pbar was South Australia's busiest Regional Rail Hub the Steamtown Heritage rail Center celebrates the rich history of Pinar as a major railway center with locomotives and rolling stock on display I reminder ladies and gentlemen that we are looking still at an on time arrival into Parklands terminal this afternoon between 3:00 and quarter pass 3 and for those of you who have selected to do the bruss valley experience today we will be stopping at a little rail Sid in the toship of two Wells and it is from there we'll ask you to disembark the Pacific this afternoon to be taking away by coach to the wonderful experience we have plann for you today you'll be then returned to the train l r this evening it's around 9:00 this evening so please make sure that you have taken with you every that you might need including your indic lanyard with your Excursion ticket attached to that at talk today 25° and it will be about 18 or 19° by the time you return to in this evening and here's Steamtown Heritage rail Center which the train manager mentioned at the heart of the town's locomotive Department was this triple gauge turntable and Roundhouse at one point it was home to a stable of about 40 steam locomotives peterb was originally called Petersburg that changed in 1918 when the government eliminated Town names of German origin there are plenty of wind turbines in this part of the [Music] world Jamestown is home to about 1,500 people soon after we catch glimpses of old gladston jail which opened in 1881 and closed in 1975 it's now a tourist attraction this train is being loaded with grain on the outskirts of Crystal Brook we reach a major rail triangle this line heads Northwest to port austa and onto Perth until 1986 passengers for Adelaide would need to change onto a broad gauge train in Port Perry in 1980 the line between Port Perry and Adelaide was standardized this allowed the Indian Pacific to travel down into Adelaide as part of its East West Route it added 300 0 km to the journey lunchtime starting with lemon Myrtle bread rolls I've chosen the plowman's plate as my main and ice cream for dessert shortly after lunch we pull into the siding in two Wells where passengers visiting seots fi wines disembarked aboard a coach to the barasa valley a freight train passes Us in the loop this train features double stacked containers which can be used on trains to per because there are no tunnels I find this letter in my cabin apologizing for the canceled offra excursions in broken Hill and Advising I'll receive a $150 reimbursement so we're now traveling through Adelaide's outer Northern suburbs heading towards Adelaide Parklands terminal in kzk there we'll hop off the train and join one of the off Trin experiences these are all 5 and 1/2 hour trips are they include dinner and options include Mclaren Vale hondorf the central marker after dark in the South Australian Museum because I'm from Adelaide I've been to all these places so the one I've chosen is the central marker after dark because it includes an exclusive sitdown dinner when the market is closed which is something you don't even get to do as a local long-distance trains use Adelaide Parklands terminal in kzk which is about 3 km from the city center because of the trains length the consist is divided into two sections our section is brought into platform [Music] two this is the only station in the world where passengers can board trains on both north south and east west transcontinental route with the Gan traveling from Adelaide to Darwin we're directed to a coach based on which tour we've chosen a few minutes later we arrive at the Central Market where we're taking on a guided tour it's one of the oldest markets in Australia dating from 1869 the market sells fruit and vegetables Freshly Baked Goods meat and poultry pretty much anything you could want all up there are more than 70 stores after time to wander the market closes but we're invited inside for dinner this starts with a cheese tasting with paired wines here's the menu there's also live music after dinner with taken back to the railway station though the coach driver lets us know there is some kind of delay some passengers join the westbound service here they begin with a welcome dinner in the terminal currently only 1 half of the train is here we're advised that a broken rail in the yard has caused a delay ladies and gentlemen all persons on platform clear behind boarding begins just before 10 p.m. thank you back to my cabin where my bed has been made a little while later our section of the train is pulled forward before being pushed back onto the section of train still on Platform One and this is when something unusual happens rather than heading north as expected the train heads south on the inter state line to Melbourne the reason for this is to avoid the broken rail where the track rejoins the main line so after pushing back far enough we pull forward on the freight lines that bypass the terminal for a train nerd like me it's quite exciting to travel on a section of track that passenger trains almost never [Music] use so we're finally underway again after a bit of a delay here in Adelaide which is passing through the northern suburbs and ultimately we're now I think about an hour and 20 minutes behind schedule hopefully they can make some of that time up overnight and tomorrow so we don't miss any more offra excursions like we did in broken Hill today so without further Ado I'll say good night last night I got something of a bed asleep uh I think this might partly be due to the better tracks along this section compared to between Sydney and brogen Hill or the crew also say that the first night is often the hardest whereas on the second night you're getting more used to the noises um and the movement of the train so sleep does come easier so now we're on our way towards cook on the nullo I've had a shower and I'm going to head to the lounge caral for a coffee and then breakfast is being served from 6:30 uh which is now so breakfast is available anytime between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. um my room is obviously still in bed mode as you can see I'll put this little sign up when I leave so the crew know they can turn it into the day mode or the seat um as you can see there's a little bit of space here but it is a little bit cramped when you're moving around while the bed is down but still manageable yes so today we'll be heading towards cook which is a refueling and rewatering stop I think and then uh on to Rola where we're meant to have dinner hopefully we've made up some time overnight but I'm not sure yet there'll be announcement about that later we're now on the trans Australian Railway the trans Australian Railway opened in 1917 and is the only rail Corridor linking Western Australia with the eastern states at the peak of construction up to 4 km of track was laid on the trans Australian Railway each day in total the trans Australian line is about 1,693 km long it was originally owned and operated by the Commonwealth Railways kicking breakfast off with apple juice and musley to start I choose the smoked ham for tataa as my [Music] main t AA is where the line to Alis Springs and Darwin diverges from the trans Australian Railway we still have close to 2,000 km to travel before we'll reach Perth current time which is of course 17 minutes 9 as we have facilitated a time change uh yesterday evening and uh are currently running on what we call train time if you are looking to change your time still on a smartphone it is running on Tokyo time and we do expect to be arriving in to cook at 20 minutes 1 this afternoon and we'll have approximately 30 minutes to explore the historic rail Township of cook we pass multiple Goods Loops which can accommodate freight trains up to 1,800 M long when this Railway opened Railway workers left at settlements along the route to maintain the line and the trains a weekly train called the tea and sugar was the sole source of Provisions to these settlements the train is the Village Store the bank and the health center for the rail workers and others living along the 1100 mile track between pteraster and Cal [Music] gury the tea and sugar makes 50 stops on its weekly run and for the housewives at pimber it's a welcome visitor for besides household needs it brings a welfare car with a doctor and nurse polio immunization and chest x-ray surveys as the track was relayed with concrete sleepers and welded rail requiring less maintenance and newer more reliable diesel locomotives were introduced the tea and sugar became redundant and was withdrawn in 1996 there's a moving map in the lounge car so passengers can keep track of the Train's progress the wedg tailed eagle is the emblem of the Indian Pacific it's Australia's largest bird of prey with a wingspan of up to 2.8 M this symbolizes
a journey spanning the continent you get a sense of how remote we are on this section of track nothing but scrub as far as the eye can see take note of this curved track it's the last curve we'll see for a long time hard to believe it's lunch already starting with these pumpkin bread rolls for the main I try the camel Curry camels were imported from India and Afghanistan from the 1840s to help explore Australia's Inland they've since flourished in the desert and are considered pests it's estimated there's more than 1 million feral camels in Australia I choose ice cream for dessert do you notice anything peculiar about this view there are no trees the name nullabor is derived from Latin and means no trees it's the world's largest single exposure of limestone Bedrock covering an area of about 200,000 sare km or roughly the size of Great Britain we're now on the longest straight section of track in the world 478 km long the straight track begins just past old DEA and continues across the border with Western Australia ending about halfway between forest and raw Lena we're now pulling into cook the diesel Locos are refueled here and the carriages topped up with [Music] water [Music] [Music] the Indian Pacific is only being hauled by a single Loco since Adelaide because there are no significant gradients to climb you can see a couple of spare locomotives are kept here in case of breakdowns I believe there are six NR Loos carrying the Indian Pacific Livery but today we have one in Standard Pacific national colors we have about 30 minutes to explore this semi-abandoned settlement cook was once a settlement of about 40 people with a hospital basketball court school and a swimming pool the reduction of Railway operations at the Town resulted in its virtual desertion and it now has a permanent population of four there's overnight accommodation here for train crews that's our signal to reboard so as you can see we're still traversing the nullor plane on the longest straight struction of rway in the world because we're running late we won't be having dinner under the stars and rolling it off the train so we'll light en rollinger for a briefer stop uh with the musician playing beneath the stars so it should still be something special the train temperature is meant to be fixed I think at 22° C but it does seem to vary and so because of that let's get changed and just like that we're ready for dinner we're now traveling through Forest today the nullabor Bears little resemblance to its vibrant past until about 14 million years ago it was a shallow seabed welcome to Western Australia your evening meal on board the IND Pacific will be a lovely roast meal and served in your queen Adelaide restaurant so Platinum Club lounges between 6:00 this evening and 8:00 this will work rather similarly to our lunch on board today ladies and gentlemen in that please make yourselves known to your respective guest experience managers or platinum hosts when you are feeling a package between those times they'll be able to facilitate a table in your respective dining areas as as soon as one does become available following your evening meal on board ladies and gentlemen we are planning to be able to experience some live entertainment from Peter our onboard musician and uh we do hope to be able to do so under the stars after we have arrived into R this evening as promised we served a lamb roast with sausage potato salad coelo and quinoa salad the choice of meat is because Rand is home to one of Australia's biggest sheep stations with up to 65,000 Marino sheep I can't resist the chocolate mousse for dessert having dinner on the train but drinks around a bonfire in Rola is similar to the service during winter the cold overnight temperatures at that time of year means it's too cold to eat off the train Rina sheep station is roughly the same size as Sydney a must can take up to 100 km to get the Sheep to a shearing shed using motorbikes and aircraft we're at Rola where we're having drinks under the stars with music unfortunately it seems like there's clouds so we can't see many stars [Music] tonight cheers the crew is happy to take photos for you it's the early hours again and I've woken in the Goldfield city of calgi until East Perth station opened in 1970 this was the longest platform in Western Australia that was to allow passengers to switch from the standard gauge train Australian onto a Narrow Gauge train to Perth of course these days no change is required you can catch the daily prospector train between Perth and Cal gy it takes about 7 hours to cover the 650 km Journey Kuli is home to one of Australia's largest open cut gold mines the super pit good morning and welcome aboard the fourth and final day aboard the Indian Pacific we're now west of culi on the Eastern goldfields Railway and heading towards the Avon Valley and Perth it's definitely true that the longer you sleep on the train the more accustomed you become to it so sleep becomes a little bit easier despite all the noises and the movement you start getting used to it so that's a good thing time for a shower we are currently situated uh Lake Julia you will see a larger Salt Lake located to the left hand side direction of travel as we do have some fright train crosses through this area these are scheduled into our Tim table and we are currently running to schedule currently for our plattinum and gold service areas we do have breakfast available when you are ready I do make your way through to your Outback Explorer Lounge cars or platinum lounges and see your hosts and guest experience managers who will take you through when seating is available our final breakfast on board I'm starting with the chai [Music] birer and the Croc Madame for main course served with tea and apple and black currant [Music] juice we stop in the wheat belt town of Meridan roughly halfway between calul and Perth to change drivers for the final time we're now close to meckering famous for a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in 1968 the Quake was felt up to 700 km away and badly damaged the town injured dozens of people and buckled the railway line the crew encourage us to fill out the feedback form I also pick up a branded bottle of water to add to my collection it must seem like all we do is eat on this train but it is a few hours later the jewfish on the menu has been replaced by Whiting which is what I go for and of course there are bread rolls and your choice of wine I hope you didn't think I'd chosen the fruit platter this is my dessert the brownie after all this is our last meal and I'm a chocolate fiend Northam is a major Railway Junction and serves as the commercial center for much of the western wheat belt another chance to see the length of our train on these Curves in this final part of our journey we'll travel down the Avon Valley one of the most scenic parts of the trip although because we're on the tail end of summer it's D than usual we follow the Avon river which will eventually join the Swan River the track here is duel Gage as Western Australia mostly uses Narrow Gauge we reach the Swan Valley dotted with Vineyards on our approach to Perth let's have a quick chat with the train manager my name's Cameron I'm a journey manager on the IND Pacific this week but have certainly done a lot of uh to travel on the rest of our trains as well about 240 guests and I've got 52 staff this week uh it's a a spectacular transcontinental Journey we don't have that anywhere else very few other places in the world the difference between the Landscapes we see is is quite incredible as diverse from snow in the Blue Mountains perhaps to a lightning storm on the alore it gets pretty exciting the Red Hills in and around farton always been my favorite part of this particular Journey yeah it's beautiful is slightly too long for the platform here in the East Perth rail terminal your attendant will come through and collect your cabin bags from you and these will be now rolling through Perth seat and suburbs on the way to East Perth terminal it's been a fantastic Journey traveling right across Australia getting an understanding of the scale of this country and just how big it is overall it's been a really enjoyable Journey it's been a few disappointments just in terms of having to cancel the off Trin experiences in broken Hill and not having the dinner in rer but it was still enjoyable overall once you get used to sleeping on the train things improve so it's good that you have sort of three nights cuz by the second and third night you're sort of getting a lot more sleep than you are on the first night the service on board is excellent and all the staff can't do enough to help you they're incredibly friendly yeah they just go above and beyond I'd give particular credit to the experience manager in this section of the train Dylan who was outstanding he couldn't help enough in any way shape form and he got to know all the passengers names uh really incredible so yeah just really went above and beyond and delivered a great service yeah all the food's been amazing the service has been great um you know it's been a really comfortable enjoyable relaxing trip so I would recommend [Music] it East Perth terminal is about 2.5 km from the city center as this is where the standard gauge line ends you may be wondering how much all this costs a gold class single cabin from Sydney to Perth purchased 6 months in advance starts at $2,345 Australian do but the price varies based on the season it's not cheap but it's important to remember the fair includes all of your meals beverages offra excursions and accommodation you shouldn't need to spend any money while on board traveling in the opposite direction is marginally cheaper welcome to Perth Perth is Australia's fourth most populous city with Adelaide more than 2,000 km away Perth is one of the world's most isolated Capital Cities one of these trans Perth Narrow Gauge trains will take us into the CBD because our train is so long we'll have to head back through a few carriages to be able to exit onto the platform this gives us an opportunity to check out some of the other Cabins this is a gold twin cabin the most popular option and here's a cabin with both beds still down I guess some people wanted a Saturday sleep in here's a last look at our train before we hop on board a transport Suburban train the CBD is about 7 minutes [Music] away but I'm staying on the train towards freem [Music] manle seeing as we started our trip on the Pacific Ocean at Bondo Beach it's seem fitting that we complete the journey by making the trip to the Indian Ocean here at North freemantle completing the coast to coast Journey on the Indian Pacific I hope you've enjoyed coming with me if you enjoyed this video don't forget to like subscribe and hit the notification Bell so you don't miss the next one hope to see you [Music] then
2023-10-18 01:31
